Overrun
by Queen Galux
Summary: Chapter One: In which Vexen complains, Larxene enters in, and our story begins. Title and summary not reflect full story at all. See inside. ::Story Updates Currently in La-La-Land : Expect Little to None and Ye Shall Receive ::
1. Overrun

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Doi.

Title sucks and really has nothing to do with the rest of the plot. Kind of a filler.  
Rating because I wanted to cover my ass. xP  
A Proposed Summary of What This Story May Become: Organization XIII from before Chain of Memories through, at least, the Prologue of II. Focused on several strategic characters, switching focus throughout the story.  
Planned Couples: Vexen/Larxene, Roxas/Axel, Saix/Xemnas/XIV?

Grah, I live... It's been awhiles since I've written anything on ol' ff(dot)net...

Warnings: This thing's probably crap... most likely, I would say. It started as a dabbling in my journal and I decided I should continue writing it, for whatever reason. Since there's nothing bad/raunchy like I had envisioned, yet, it's going right here. I spent some time fixing the italics on here and spellchecked it, but... other than that I haven't read it much... (I have a policy against reading my own writing, makes me not post it and stuff.) Sorry my writing up here sounds so junky. I swear, a good chunk of the writing down there is much better.

Have fun and good luck.

Chapter I - Overrun

* * *

The Hall of Empty Melodies was as silent as a tomb, save for the soft clicking of black boots on its upper hallway's floor. Normally, the figure would not be wandering the castle; he would be content to spend his freetime experimenting and studying in his lab. However, the recent increase in the Organization's members had lessened his usual workload considerably. So much so that he had actually become bored with his scientific 'hobbies'; the same hobbies he would have given his right arm for years ago, just to have more time to do them. The Chilly Academic was sure that there was some irony in that, but he was much too frustrated to find it. 

Right now, he had been formulating a complaint to the Superior about the newer members that appeared to be running him out of a job. It wasn't that he _could_ pull off those long shifts of travelling to other worlds, completing missions - not that he wanted to admit it, but he _was_ getting older - but at least he would feel more useful if he did. Having to conduct experiments to 'confirm suspicions' about the Heartless or his fellow Nobodies was a bit pointless and, frankly, insulting. It almost felt like the only reason Xemnas kept him around was because their somebodies were old colleagues. It felt akin to being an old sock - not a particularly favorite old sock - that had lost its mate. Who would want to wear only one, ugly, dirty, old sock with there being so many other complete pairs? Due to the fact that the Organization was filled with Nobodies, which were a dime-a-dozen these days, they were all probably just as disposable as that same sock. Vexen's musings of his futile, near non-existance were so overpowering, he didn't notice the presence of another intruding on his sanctuary.

"Hey!" shouted Xigbar, as he energetically patted Vexen on the back. The Freeshooter laughed as his icey friend was knocked out of his thoughts and very nearly over the railing of the hall. The man continued to laugh as he pulled Vexen away from the railing and, inadvertantly, right onto the floor.

The Chilly Academic managed to get his wits about him and helped himself back to his feet. Turning to the one-eyed hyena next to him, Vexen greeted him. "What brings you here, Number II?" he forced out, politely as possible.

Finished with torturing the poor man for now, Xigbar replied, "Eh, figured I'd take a scenic route around the castle before completing my last task for today." Xigbar grinned at Vexen, "But what about _you_?! I don't think I've ever seen you wandering the castle like this before! Are you and your test tubes having a lover's spat?"

Vexen restrained himself from rolling his eyes. This was the reason he disliked being in this man's company. He revelled in the discomfort of others. He snarled, "Familiarity tends to breed contempt at times." Deciding that he had brainstormed enough for his complaint, he made to leave but was stopped by the Freeshooter.

"Hey, where're ya going?" he asked.

Vexen pulled out of Xigbar's grasp. "To Superior. I wished to speak with him before the meeting this evening." Again he tried to leave alone, but Xigbar would not have that.

"Actually, I just came from there. Xemnas is having a chat with our _new member_ and had asked for some privacy," Number II looked a tad peeved, "Kicked me out and everything."

What little color was in Vexen's face vanished. Another new member? Why, that would make it... six! Six new members that were over running their little nest away from civilization. Saix seemed quiet and refined compared to the rest, but the Superior had taken a great liking to the Luna Diviner, and now treated him more like his number two than Xigbar. Demyx was a wimp, plain and simple. The only reason Vexen tolerated him was because the Melodious Nocturne made him feel like he wasn't the most worthless of the bunch. Luxord... truth be told, Vexen didn't know much about the gambler... but he was one of the 'newbies' as it were, so he couldn't possibly be that great. Axel and Marluxia were... well, Axel and Marluxia. Both had a cockiness and confidence about them that Vexen despised (or perhaps coveted).

A sixth one? Vexen would rather die.

Once again, Vexen felt the prickly sensation of being pulled out of his own thoughts as he was literally dragged by the arm along the room's upper floor. "What. The. Hell. Xigbar." he spat slowly, trying to hold his ground without overdoing it and falling on his ass again.

Xigbar's face had his trademark grin again, "Well... I've decided that I want YOU to be my accomplice as we check out our dear Number XII." Summoning a portal, he continued to drag Vexen out from the Hall and through the darkness to Where Nothing Gathers, their meeting hall.

This hall, similarly to the previous one, had a feeling of emptiness to it, as was per usual to the rest of the Castle and the World That Never Was. The meticulously clean white walls and ceiling made it nearly impossible to know how large the room actually was and the fact that the only things in the room were their obscenely tall, white thrones did not exactly have a calming effect on those with the fear of large confined areas. Naturally, this was not an issue with anyone of the Organization, since they had been repeatedly told that they had no hearts and could not feel fear, but it was still something to take note of.

Vexen snatched his arm away from Xigbar as soon as they had materialized onto the floor of the room, behind one of the thrones. Number IV curiously looked around the room to see their Superior, Xemnas, quite clearly from his vantage point. Searching the other thrones, he saw that none of the others were filled, making the assumption that Xemnas's companion was in the seat that he and Xigbar were hiding behind.

"Dammit," whispered Xigbar. Vexen couldn't help but smirk as the Freeshooter's plan was foiled. It would be no use now to port to a different location; Vexen was surprised that their Superior had not noticed their entrance the first time. He resigned to leaning against their newest member's pedestal, listening to the clear voice of Xemnas decending to his ears.

"...suppose you understand, but I will expect you to pull your own weight around here. I will not tolerate any slacking off on your part due to your... differences..."

Vexen's brow furrowed. What possible differences could this new member have that would encourage Superior to address them at induction? He tapped Xigbar on the shoulder and whispered, "Differences?"

The one-eyed man whispered back, though not at all as subtly as his partner in crime, "Dif- oh, that's right. You haven't seen h-" Xigbar's sentence was cut off as a black cloaked figure fell gracefully through the air and landed in front of them. Clearly, their conversation had been overheard. Xigbar laughed, bashfully this time, "Well, hey - Larxene." A bead of sweat ran down his forehead as a fourth Nobody joined their band on the floor. "And Xemnas..." he mumbled.

Xemnas's only facial reaction to Xigbar's appearance was the slow, unimpressed blink of his eyes, "As you know already Number XII, this is Xigbar." For the Chilly Academic however, the Superior raised an eyebrow as he did in the infrequent moments that he was surprised, "And this is our Number IV, Vexen. Vexen, this is Larxene."

The twelfth member's eyes focused on the blonde-haired man. "Hn, it's an honor... Vexen." The Nobody named Larxene gave a small mock-bow to her superior officer. As she raised her head again, she gave what sounded like a high-pitched snort and their eyes caught each other.

Perhaps it was because of Vexen's recent lack of contact with any sort of being, complete or "in", but once they caught his attention, Larxene's blue eyes grounded him to her, the shade reminding him of the ice attacks that he controlled, or even the chemicals he dabbled in when they were mixed together. Regardless, he couldn't seem to look away, the Savage Nymph's spell too strong for him.

By what Vexen could only call an act of God, Xemnas had walked in his field of vision and spoke to him, "...Vexen?"

That snapped him out of his reverie and he cleared his throat, "Ah, yes, Superior?"

Again Xemnas looked surprised at Vexen, but brushed it off for the moment, "Xigbar said you wished to speak with me about something, Number IV. Is that still true?"

Vexen looked from Superior to the Freeshooter to Larxene. It did not feel like the most suitable moment to complain to their leader about the new members when one of the new members was no further than six feet away. "It can... wait, Superior."

Xemnas would have pressed Vexen to speak, but their small party was further interrupted by Numbers VII, VIII and XI entering the room and seating themselves. Deciding to wait after their evening meeting, Xemnas nodded to the Chilly Academic before porting himself to his chair. Larxene gave a chuckle at Vexen again and followed suit; Xigbar used his power over space to get to his, leaving Vexen alone on the floor. As the remaining stragglers began appearing on their seats, Vexen took one last moment to regain composure and finally took his seat.

As he appeared he was calmly greeted with an "Evening, Vexen" from his right-hand neighbor, Zexion. As the lowest ranked member of the original six, Zexion got along quite well with Vexen; Number VI was a very patient Nobody and since they had a history together, Vexen had no need to worry about his ulterior motives, as Zexion had always informed him of them. "Zexion," he returned in kind with a nod.

"Yo, Vexen!" shouted Zexion's other neighbor, making the two older members flinch.

"Hope you've had a _lovely_ day," continued the firey Axel. He sat with one elbow on the arm of his chair; his chin rested in his hand, "I know I couldn't think of anything all day except the icey bore that's always shacked up at home here."

Vexen hissed, "Shut up..."

The Flurry of Dancing Flames, however, just kept pushing on, "Ooooh, so _cold_ today..." he flashed a smile.

"Shut up, Number VIII-"

"That will do, Vexen," interrupted Xemnas, cutting the two Nobodies' bickering time to a close. Satisfied when everyone was silenced, he began the meeting, "Before we start with our daily reports, I would like to introduce you to our Number XII, Larxene..." Some murmurs of welcome were heard. "Now then, today's events..."

The Chilly Academic listened with little interest in the goings-on of his companions, catching small pieces of information here and there. _Xaldin's council with the Queen of Hearts_ ... _Demyx scouting the Underworld_ ... _Axel's trip to Agrabah_ ... It dragged on and on until finally Xemnas turned to Vexen. "Findings support assumptions similarly to yesterday's..." Vexen found it hard to keep from yawning at his own day's activities. He firmly believed that watching wallpaper dry really was more interesting than listening to himself recount his experiments. "The quantities and principle of equilibrium dictate..." Scratch that. _Listening_ to someone giving an account _of_ watching wallpaper dry was more interesting.

Nearing the end of their meeting, Xemnas announced one final addendum, "Due to our Organization's increasing size, I have decided that a change in structure is neccessary. As Marluxia reported," he nodded to the Graceful Assassin, "We have aquirred an additional territory and I would be remiss if we did not take advantage of this to branch out. Within the next few weeks, we will be stocking Castle Oblivion and preparing it as our own, so that several of our members will be positioned there."

Vexen sat on his seat, taking in this new information. Splitting up the Organization... this could actually work for him. As long as enough of the members were sent to this other Castle, he could probably scrape some of his old jobs back at the Castle That Never Was. This could actually work very well.

The pink-haired male raised a question, "How will leadership be decided in Oblivion?"

The Superior gestured to Marluxia, "I have decided that, unless some grievous event changes my mind, you will be the leader, as it was you who found the Castle for us. Additionally," he continued, "Axel and Larxene will assist you there." Vexen gave a silent cheer. "And, for some time, I intend for some of our older members to assist and guide you as well. Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen will join you. This ends our meeting." The other members began porting out of the hall to their own separate rooms. "Vexen, I believe you needed to speak with me about something?" Xemnas focused on Number IV and waited until the rest of the members had left for him to speak.

Except Vexen didn't speak. His jaw slackened, eyes stared into the distance, as he tried to process that last little bit of information his Superior bombed him with. _Marluxia... Axel... joining... them..._

The Superior stared expectantly for a few minutes before sighing, "Vexen. Is there som-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I'M GOING WITH -THEM- TO... TO -THERE-??"

Now, it was Xemnas's turn to take an extended pause. He knew very well of Vexen's loathing of a majority of their Organization, and had expected some sort of objection on the Chilly Academic's part but not a full-blown outburst. No matter. As the leader, he would not allow such a thing to put a hitch in his schedule. "Yes, Vexen, I am sending you to Castle Oblivion with the others. Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" He watched Vexen breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath after exploding like he had. "Vexen..."

The blonde man thought, 'He's not about to give me any answers until I answer him, is he...' He drank in another breath, "I wanted to discuss my current workload." Xemnas held a stern face, but allowed Vexen to continue. "Now, I'm not saying it's too hard for me; frankly, it's much too easy." A raised eyebrow urged him on. "I'm just... Well, Superior, I really think that, what with everyone rushing around to outside worlds, that _I_ could be apart of some of those outside duties."

Xemnas spoke, "Your strengths and abilities are better suited to lab work, Number IV."

Vexen recoiled a little, "I... know that. I just would feel more of use to the Organization as a whole if I had... more on my plate, I suppose."

The two sat in silence for a minute or two before Xemnas finally replied, "I can see how couped up one can feel, stuck indoors for hours on end. Which is why I am confident in my decision of sending you to Castle Oblivion." Vexen's mouth simply dropped and he tried to protest, but Xemnas held up his hand, "You appear so concerned with being of use, I don't see how you can object to being of use, albeit away from here. I'll expect you to join Marluxia's group."

* * *

ZOMG, Cliffhanger. And a bad one at that. 

Review if you dared to read it all.


	2. A Library Moment

Disclaimer - Don't own Kingdom Hearts.

As a note, the names of any 'books' that are in here, I pulled out of my ass, but if there are any books in reality that have these names - I don't own them any more than KH. And there's quite a bit of Zexion in this chapter. I'm not really sure why.  
Also, there used to be a rather 'adult'-oriented part at the end that I chopped out for on here because... well, I don't want to give ffnet a reason to ban my butt. xP So, abruptness at the end? That's why. For those who care about the actual plot, it's just Vexen involved (wink wink).

Chapter II - A Library Moment

* * *

Around a year's time from now, the Proof of Existence would be a desolate graveyard, containing nothing but the broken and decrepit headstones for its former residents. 

At present, however, it was one of the most lively, bustling areas of the Castle that Never Was.

Although the Organization was filled with Nobodies with no hearts or emotions, that did not keep them from holding sociable, polite conversations with one another. Xigbar had managed an apparently jovial conversation with Xaldin and Luxord and was talking animatedly as was usual. Lexaeus stood near his room's door, calmly listening in to the former's conversation. Axel leaned against a wall, listening to Demyx talk about music, his usual topic of choice. Marluxia watered a large flower that he had insisted on decorating the room with. All in all, a typical scenario. Except for three of the members.

Saix had developed a tolerance to this scene, due to the fact that Xemnas was usually amongst them. But because their Superior had remained with Vexen, the Luna Diviner receded into his room for the time being. Similarly, Zexion was accustomed to Vexen's presence and without him there, the Cloaked Schemer simply paced slowly around the room in thought.

Most out of place though was Larxene. As the newest member, she had no patterns to fall back on or comrades to gravitate towards. Technically, she didn't even have a room yet- Xemnas told her where the Proof was, to go there and that he would show her to her room. She could have figured out which was hers though, the arrangement of the doors was easy enough to understand, but where was the fun in hiding in one's room when one could... annoy? Thus, she found a wall to lean on and in a few minutes time, found a worthy target. "What _are_ you doing?" she asked the roaming Zexion, when he was a few feet away from her.

Zexion blinked, showing an ounce of surprise, before answering, "Thinking."

Larxene rolled her eyes, "Your feet have to move in order for your brain to function?"

"It can help," he replied, hoping that disinterest on his part might convince her to move on, as he had been accustomed to with Axel around.

The female Nobody snorted, "That's men for you." Her eyes moved to the right of Zexion and a smirk grew on her face. Following her line of sight, Zexion saw Vexen had finally appeared.

The Chilly Academic's normally foul mood had become even worse as he stepped into the Proof of Existence. After a good measured glare in the directions of Marluxia and Axel, he stomped his way over to Zexion. "I need to borrow a book, Zexion." Screw social life, he needed to experiment to keep him from doing something like turning Agrabah into an ice rink.

Zexion sighed and shook his head, "I suppose one greeting a day is your limit." He lead the way to his room's door and when he checked to see that Vexen was behind him, he saw Larxene trailing behind the both of them. The Schemer cleared his throat, "May we help you?"

Larxene shrugged, "What? Girl's not allowed to touch your private books?"

As much as Zexion didn't want to spend more time with the woman, he didn't exactly want to cause a ruckus either. This late in the day was not a good time to pick fights. Besides, a book might just be the thing to get her out of his hair. "Very well," he said and entered.

Just as Vexen had converted his room to a dark, dank laboratory, Zexion had taken it upon himself to provide the rest of the Organization with a library. The finished result was an enormous room, similar to Where Nothing Gathers, containing floor to near-ceiling shelves that were filled with ever kind of book imaginable. Anything from thick encyclopedic volumes to the simplest novels were stored on those shelves. Zexion alone was the only Nobody to know where each and every book was, as he was the one who had to maintain them.

Originally, the books had all been organized in a very "Zexion"-manner. First divided by what language they were written in; then fiction and non-fiction; then sub-genre, by author's last name and title if necessary - all divisions ordered alphabetically. Simple and clean, really. But of course, the others had their complaints. Demyx wanted all the foreign language music books nearer to the English music ones; Axel didn't like the five mile walk that it took to get from the shounen manga to the pornographic section (Zexion still couldn't comprehend why Superior let Axel get away with that); Marluxia wanted the horticulture books closer to the ground, etc etc. It became such a headache that Xemnas requested that Zexion tweak his library's structure to suit the rest of the group's needs.

Ruining his perfect organizational scheme was not enjoyable, but Zexion had settled. He added one more shelf near the front of the library and agreed to hold each member's favorites right there for easy access. Everything else was the same, but Zexion had to create a full-listing of every book and where it was to be placed, so that the others could navigate as well. That had not been a pleasant time for any of the order, as the calm Zexion had become extremely snappy from weeks of writing down the details of all the books.

Even though he'd seen the room before countless times, Vexen still was impressed by his old friend's handiwork. Of all the other member's rooms, Zexion's was the most welcoming to the Academic... aside from his own. He felt something brush against his arm and remember that Number XII was right beside him. He glanced and saw her head tilted sightly, lips parted a little; her eyes taking in the vast room. Taking his chance, he scoffed, "Have you _never_ seen a library before?"

Her eyes snapped to him, the look of awe gone, "You can _really_ kill a good moment, can't you..." She stomped away from him and Zexion and disappeared in the rows.

Vexen frowned. He felt- no, he couldn't feel, just pretend- a twinge of... disappointment, perhaps? At what? That she hadn't stuck around to fight with him as one of the others might have?

"She's right," spoke a voice ahead of him. Zexion had moved along to Vexen's favorites and was beginning to climb the ladder towards the higher shelves. "Was that really necessary?"

"Of course," muttered Vexen, not exercising the usual grandeur he used when bashing the newer members.

"'Of course' he says," repeated Zexion, finally reaching Vexen's books. "Was there a specific one you wanted?" No reply. "Was th-"

"I heard you the first time," Vexen interrupted.

Zexion pursed his lips and said to himself, "Normal people generally answer when they're asked the _first time_." He spoke louder, "Then which one?"

Vexen pondered. "Actually," he said, "I think I need a completely different one." He gestured in the direction of the other science books.

For other members, Zexion would have appeared self-controlled, but perhaps because it was Vexen he was dealing with, he didn't try hiding the action of banging his head against the shelf, "Then _why_ did I come up _here_?" He slid himself down the ladder.

Taking the facetious question seriously, Vexen shrugged, "Early aging? Momentary loss of sanity? Lack of sleep?" He was consumed in his mind again.

The Cloaked Schemer ignored his comrade's reply and navigated the room silently. Finding the rest of Vexen's science books, he made to leave the Academic in peace but paused, "Do you need any of your archive?" Vexen's experiment notes had become so numerous over the years that Zexion had offered to hold some of his older, less needed work right in the library. Vexen shook his head as he scanned the books. "Very well," Zexion left.

The blond-haired man tried to focus on the titles in front of him, but to little avail. _Physics Theories_... Castle Oblivion... _The Basics of Biology_... Number XII... _A Chemist's Checklist_... Axel... _Astronomy 101_... Marluxia's damn flower... _The Do's and Don'ts of a Scientist's Lab_... Larxene...

Vexen returned '_Do's_' back to it's place on the shelf. That had been odd. He was known to brood on things... but to the extent of remembering their name on their first day? That certainly hadn't happened before. Why, it had been a good three months before he bothered to remember Demyx's name- that had been his highest record. The Chilly Academic tapped lightly on the books before him. For whatever reason, that Nobody was getting in the way of his train of thought and no matter what he did, he wasn't going to be focusing entirely on anything else.

Throwing whatever caution he had to the wind, he randomly picked a book off the shelf and walked himself towards the door that he'd come from. Taking a route different than Zexion had taken to bring him there, he came across Larxene again, still looking through Zexion's collection. The thought of going over and talking to her ran through his head, but it passed quickly. _Just get back to the lab_... he thought.

"Vexen? Did you fi-" came Zexion's voice. That was all it took for Larxene to look up from her book in Vexen's direction. Not at all wanting to confront her, Vexen instantly ported from the room to his own, ignoring the rest of Zexion's sentence.

Said-Schemer groaned again, muttering to himself, "'Goodbye', just 'goodbye', that's all I ask..." as he walked leisurely back to where he'd been.

* * *

Vexen appeared in his lab just as spontaneously as he had disappeared seconds before. Frustrated, he slammed his book down on a table (as gently as possible though; he didn't want to damage the book or whatever might have been on the table). Those eyes. It was those eyes again. He just couldn't explain them. They caught his own eyes and for the brief seconds that they were connected, he... he...

He _felt_.

That wasn't _supposed_ to happen. That _couldn't _happen.

But it did.

He slammed his fist down onto the table and book, not at all gently. He was a Nobody. A freaking paradox of scientific nature. He had no heart, thus he couldn't feel, yet he and the others could remember how to feel. They could _react_ as if they had hearts, but that didn't change the fact that they had no hearts...

Or did it?

Vexen slunk over to the one arm chair that he kept in his room and plopped himself down. His area of expertise was hard, cold facts. He wasn't supposed to be one who mused daily about the presence of emotions in Nobodies. And yet, as a Nobody, it was probably natural to think philosophically about oneself in situations like this. There he was, back to Larxene.

He muttered aloud to no one in particular, "Well... this may just put a dent in my little crusade..."

* * *

Review! (Otherwise the 5-10 minutes it took you to read this will mean NOTHING) 


	3. Nobodies Stirring

Disclaimer - Don't own Kingdom Hearts. 

A side note: Sorry this took so long to come out. I had... a few good chunks written, like, the day I posted chapter 2... but then I tried writing the end of the chapter - and it kept sucking so horribly. That is why this actual 'published' version has a massive amount of Zexion point of view at the end - I couldn't find another decent way to write it. Also, I was going to do another scene at the end of this with Xigbar and Zexion at the end (you might be able to figure out why after reading this) but I figured the suspense would just taper off if I included that.

(I've spellchecked this twice, but I've already had to go back and change some 'errors' that happened when I saved... If you do happen to notice anything odd like that, tell me in a review so I might be able to change it.)

Mainly for LuthienSky (aka. HappyCandyLand on YouTube), who wanted an update and was patiently waiting.

Chapter III - Nobodies Stirring 

* * *

Several mundane days passed before the Chilly Academic paid his first visit to Castle Oblivion. Xemnas had started 'stocking' shifts the previous day, sending a few members over to set up things, and for the second day, Vexen was among the small crew. Thankfully, Zexion was also going. Unfortunately, so was Larxene.

And most regrettably, Axel.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames whined loudly to Superior, his voice resonating off the walls of the Proof of Existence rather unsettlingly, "Why me? I worked there yesterday! Those three'll be enough!" His face was shaped into a childish frown as he pouted.

Xemnas cleared his throat, "It is minor supervising. You will only need to be there when they start and when they are ready to return here." Axel grinned. "And no, you may not slack off and leave them there for all hours. I'll give you a time to pick them up." The grin disappeared. Xemnas made a shoo'ing motion, "Now go."

The pissed off redhead made his way down the sloping hallway to the Hall of Empty Melodies where the rest of his group waited. Zexion held the same restraint as always, standing quietly, while the other two were... not. Not much could be grasped from the point that Axel had walked in at - in fact, very little _could_ be grasped the way the two blonds were going at it - but it was rather easy to see that the two or three days that Larxene had been there had already been enough to get Vexen worked up. Eager for gossip, Axel went up to Zexion's side and nudged him, "So... what's the scoop? Anything interesting?" Zexion opened his mouth to explain but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Th-this_ woman _is absolutely infuriating!" Vexen hissed in the pair's direction. Larxene smirked and immaturely stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to throw his hands up in the air and yank roughly on his own hair.

"_I_ wouldn't do that if I were you," said Larxene snidely, "You never know when that stuff will grow back..." She finished with a whisper, "_If at all_..." This earned her an extra harsh snarl from he-who-despised-her-greatly.

Axel chuckled, "_Burn_..." Seeing that the major action right now had ended, he opened a portal to the other Castle and gestured for the others to follow him through. As he went through, Larxene pushed ahead after him, leaving Zexion and Vexen to lag behind.

Vexen nudged the shorter Nobody, "Go Ahead." Zexion looked at him curiously. "You need to be a buffer between me and her," he urged.

The Cloaked Schemer shook his head incredulously, "You're kidding, right?" The blond just stared at him, expectantly. Zexion sighed, muttering, "_Childish_..._Immature_..." as he went through.

"You're a pal," Vexen said dryly, bringing up the rear.

* * *

If someone said that the Organization as a whole had a unique sense of style in terms of their buildings, one could assume that someone had seen the outer Castle Oblivion. The place looked... picturesque; it was like Picasso was trying to design a sculpture of a building that imploded. And then THAT imploded. Sure, it was fun and exciting-looking for the contemporary people, but a more traditional art fan would probably burst into tears due to eye-rape.

Vexen was not an art kind of person at all. So naturally, walking into a building like that would not settle well.

"What _is_ that thing?!"

Wanting to hurry things along, Axel grabbed Vexen's sleeve and started dragging, "Come on... You'll feel perfectly at home inside." The older man yelped and dug his heels into the ground, hoping to avoid falling on his face. Of course, that didn't stop Axel's efforts entirely, only slowed them down a degree. By the time he'd gotten Vexen most of the way through the front door, Larxene had lost her patience with the men. What came next was quite _debatable_ at best, but it quite clearly involved Larxene's hand and Vexen's ass and most definitely ended with the Academic falling flat onto the ground, pulling the Flurry of Dancing Flames down with him.

Ignoring the mayhem she caused, Larxene marched right over them, throwing in a good measured kick to one of their rib-cages, "Come on, I didn't push you _that_ hard..." She looked around, "So... we just have to organize this crap? Boring..." The Savage Nymph went on her way, grabbing boxes of provisions and porting them to another part of the Castle.

Zexion walked over to the pair of Nobodies, who still lay on the ground. He asked, "Are you planning on getting up? Because it really wasn't that ba-"

"My ass, Zexion. She grabbed my ass. And why are you taking her side again?"

"To be fair, it was more of a shove. And it's probably because she's correct, _again_."

"I think _I_ know whether it was more of a shove or a grab. And-"

Uncomfortably underneath Vexen, Axel interrupted, "This is fascinating and all, but _I'd_ like to get up now." Number IV graciously moved to the side. "_And_ it _had_ to have been a bit of a grab. I don't think Vexey here would have gotten so... _excited_ over a plain ol' shove," Axel winked. Before either of the others could reply, he dashed to the boxes, grabbed a few and ported away.

An odd, uncomfortable silence covered the two Nobodies.

"So... you-"

"We're not talking about this."

"...As expected."

* * *

A few minutes passed and they were up with Axel and Larxene again. When Vexen had briskly started unpacking, Larxene smirked, "I see I don't need to push you along again?"

Axel snickered behind her, "Play nice, all. I'll be back later." Again he disappeared before the others could respond.

"Damn little..." Vexen roughly began ripping out whatever was in his box. He only stopped when someone grabbed his arm.

"Idiot! That junk goes in the kitchen!" Larxene gave him a slap upside the head, "Did your mother raise you to be a caveman or something?" She dumped all the items back in the box and shoved it back into his arms. "Take it there and _then_ take everything out," she groaned, "Men..."

Vexen walked like a zombie to the kitchen area and found Zexion already there; apparently, the drop of knowledge that Larxene had bestowed upon Vexen was already well known by him. Zexion looked up from stacking cans of soup in the cupboard to see the Academic looking a little shell-shocked, "What now? Another grab?"

Vexen let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, "I really hate her."

Zexion waved it off, adding a toaster to the ample shelf space, "I doubt she's really that bad... Probably just the stress of living with eleven men."

As he twirled a ladle around, Vexen pondered, "I don't really understand why... I mean, we _are_ a marvelous sex..."

"Who the hell told you _that_?"

Larxene strode into the kitchen and restrained herself from dropping a box of breakables onto Vexen's foot. "I _can_ hear you in there. So don't go planning your "anti-Larxene party" until you're home."

Vexen was about to speak, but Zexion cut him off instinctively, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Larxene put on a fake smile, "You're a dear."

Vexen retorted, "You're a snob."

"_You're_ an ass," came the Nymph's reply.

"You're _both_ on my nerves," muttered Zexion.

Larxene huffed, "Well we wouldn't want _that_ now would we," and ported away. Vexen stood sour-faced until his partner had sniffed her out to be on the level below them. Only then did the Academic go back to his work.

Zexion paused for a second, a thoughtful look on his face before uttering, "Gender."

Vexen looked at him as if he was mad, "...What?"

"You said 'we are a marvelous sex' earlier, and I wanted to correct your... error." He received another blank stare, "Whether a person is male or female is gender. Sex is when two or more persons have intercourse." He shook his head, "It always bothers me when people confuse the two."

Vexen scowled, with a partial look of horror on his face - though that could have been due to Zexion's implication that orgy's were real, "_That_ bothers you?"

"Yes," the schemer replied. Zexion went back to working until he felt Vexen's eyes burning into him, "What? Now I'm not allowed an odd quirk or two but you can flaunt your lack of respect for common greeting courtesy?"

Vexen fumed, "_Lack_ of _respect_?! I'll tell _you_ who has a lack of _respect_!"

"Axel."

"...Exactly!" Vexen's face of anger melted back to regular-"disgruntled old man" as he continued working.

The Cloaked Schemer could only shake his head. Knowing Vexen as long as he had, he knew the easiest way to cool him off was to convince him that you agreed with him. What harm could that possibly do?

* * *

It had become late when Zexion brought Larxene back to the conversation. "Perhaps one of us ought to check on her?" Vexen shrugged in agreement. "And by 'one of us'," continued Zexion, "I, of course, meant you."

The Academic cried, "Zexion!"

"What? I'm not the one who could benefit from a moment alone with her," Zexion looked up to see Vexen had left. He muttered to himself, "I'm also not the one who has a _thing_ for her. Ah well..." What with no one else there to talk to or who could appreciate his wit, he chose instead to head for home. He opened a portal, this one to the Brink of Despair, just outside their castle, so that he might have a nice, leisurely evening walk to his room.

Walking through, Zexion nearly walked into Xemnas on the other side. "Evening Superior," he said, slightly embarrassed. The Schemer looked around; it wasn't normal for their leader to be wandering around right outside the castle.

Xemnas nodded in greeting, "It appears Axel followed orders. Small miracles do happen."

Zexion chuckled, albeit nervously. He'd forgotten to wait for Axel to come for them. Oh, when Vexen came back he was probably going to kill him for leaving him alone with those two. Zexion spoke up as the other Nobody walked further into the outside city, "Superior. May I ask... Is something wrong?"

Xemnas turned his head slightly towards Number VI before answering, "I sensed something, but I'm not sure what." He turned away again, "I won't be back for the meeting - Xigbar will lead... There's not much to speak abou..." Both Xemnas's distance and his quiet voice ended their conversation.

Zexion began his slow walk up to the Proof as he pondered over his Organization's leader. They relied on him to be calm and focused as they attempted to reach their goal of Kingdom Hearts. And he had always been faithful to that duty, but now... Now Zexion felt worry concerning Xemnas's distracted appearance.

The Schemer was just entering the bottom Hall of Empty Melodies when he could see a portal opening above him. Sniffing the air, he could tell it was Axel. Odd that he was returning home only now. Zexion watched the redhead stagger to the back wall, getting ready to port right up to him in case of injury, when he heard the laughter.

It wasn't a happy laughter, like he'd found 5000 munny; it wasn't a 'ha-ha' laughter, as if Xigbar had pulled a prank... It sounded like it had no business being laughter - it sounded too confident in itself. Axel, being the person he was, had probably just found some good blackmail on someone. But the laughter had more to it. It seemed fearful of something, something unknown. The laughter died down quickly and Zexion could hear Axel's boots clicking across the Hall as he ran for the Proof, evidently not wanting to be seen by the person porting right beside him.

Next, Zexion saw Vexen appear from the shadows. He looked sullen as usual, quite deep in his own thoughts. Unlike Axel, he didn't linger in the Hall for long at all. Also heading towards his room's door, he caught a glimpse of Zexion on the lower Hall. As Zexion was about to greet him, Vexen's face changed to a more startled look and he too rushed out of the Hall.

Zexion was puzzled, to say the least, of his two comrades' actions. He waited for another minute or two, almost expecting Larxene to pop out and lend him another piece of the puzzle, but no one else came. Deciding he ought to sleep on these bits of information, he continued his slow journey up, eventually reaching the higher Hall where he'd seen the two Nobodies. "What could have..." he wondered aloud, pausing to look at the area that the two of them had appeared on.

The Cloaked Schemer's heart, if he'd had it at that moment, would have probably had an attack as he saw the Savage Nymph appear as the others had. As she was the only one Zexion had seen close up, he could see quite clearly her angered expressions - and honestly wished that he were any other place besides two feet from her.

"WHAT. THE. HELL!" Larxene screamed, lunging at Zexion's throat, "I'm WAITING around over there for that ASShole Axel and YOU both decide to LEAVE ME THERE!?" Zexion avoided her grasps as best he could, but ultimately she jumped him, dragging him to the floor with her fingers around his neck.

Strongly wanting to avoid death, Zexion tried talking to her, "Wai-" Her fingers tightened, "E-gh, you mean," even tighter, "Vexen and Aa-xel," Zexion's face was turning blue, "-wer'n' th're wi'h you..?"

"OF COURSE NOT, MORON!" Pseudo-graciously, she released him; perhaps her way of torturing him even longer. She stood up and growled, "Why would they be?"

Zexion gasped for breathe for a moment or two before answering, "I... sent Vexen to check on you before I'd left... He's... already come... back..."

Larxene looked at Zexion suspiciously, "Really..." Apparently, that was enough for her, as she left her nearly-asphyxiated victim on the floor and went on to her room.

As Zexion regained his composure and oxygen, he could only wonder, "What the hell_ happened_ over there?"

* * *

So sorry about making Larxene strangle Zexion... It just came to me this morning when I wrote the end...  
And I just realized how little a part Vexen seems to have in here... I'll try to fix that up for next time.

Review, if thou desirest.


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